2-3 Years in the VHL, what have I learned?

[TenIQ 23]

Introduction:
Back in 2021, a friend of mine came to me in VC and said "You know how you're trying to get into hockey, well I found just the tool! He sent me the VHL website and off I went to create my very first player. Not fully understanding how the VHL worked yet, I entered in my actual information for my player creation. As I continued on, I was invited onto the Mississauga Hounds, and I was active for a whole 2 weeks. Then I turned around and went IA. I didn't have the full commitment to the VHL at the time. I would come onto this website on and off for the next few years, just for funzies, to feel around. Then I heard that GMing was an actual possibility in the VHL. You see I joined in the Covid Wave of 2020-2021 so every literally position had 20 people lined up in front of me. However as that hype died down a little, I realized more and more that team management was an actual possibility.

One thing about me many people don't know is that I really do enjoy management. Whether that is management at an AGM level or for the GM level, but we will get into that later.

Management Interests:
So now that team management was a possibility, I had to get myself involved in the VHL again, not having been very active for the last year I created a brand new player, one many of you will know as OCC! (His name is way too long to type out) I got drafted to Miami, but this was happening right in the heat of my school, so I did not have the time to dedicate to consistently doing Media Spots and other things. Knowing this I definitely couldn’t work on GMing a team, so I did what I could but eventually went IA for another season. Then, in season 95, I came back, Ottawa Signed me as their starting goalkeeper, and most importantly, I got my GMing experience in the Pro-Am tournament! Which ended with my team winning only 1 game, but it was at least an experience! From there I went on the hunt for an AGM spot, there were multiple open so I put out applications for three of them. However, the quickest to get back to me was Dadam. We had some chats and I really liked the guy, so I revoked my applications to the E and M teams that I was going for and joined Saskatoon as their AGM! Saskatoon, coming out of a Championship season. I had no hope that we would be able to make it back to the finals, let alone win them. So I was just happy to be there. I was slowly learning the grassroots of AGMing, and at an even slower place learning how to do lines, however, I was getting there. Luckily enough for me, however, Dadam was a very good teacher. I eventually got myself into fully helping with the team, posting Press Conferences, keeping players active, etc.

On the player side of things, I was doing really well! My goalkeeper, by sheer luck, had an honestly amazing build, and I had a team where I was the only player on it, leaving me with 40-50 shots per game that I blocked! Leaving the season with about a 0.906 sv% in my first real season. My GM and AGM were super helpful throughout the process and I managed to continue to better my build throughout the season! And the AGM of the Lynx, whether purposely or not, managed to teach me a lot about AGM-specific stuff!

Closing Remarks and the Future:
As for my future, I am not exactly sure yet. My hope is that I eventually make it to GM an actual team in the VHL. However, at the moment, I am focusing on smaller steps. I have applications out for multiple GM positions and crossing my fingers that I get one of those positions. Management in the VHL has definitely helped me improve my dedication and activity in the league.

So, throughout my story, what have I learned that could be useful to you? Well, that truly depends and varies from experience to experience. All of you amazing people have taught me so much, so I will try to lay it out the best I can with the words I have.

Management:
There is nothing more fun to me in the league than management. With so many different opportunities, I truly believe any dedicated VHL player should try out team management sometime in their career. It is not only an amazing way to build organizational skills, dedication to the league, and have a fun time on something other than player-building. But also a way to learn a lot about the inner workings of the VHL, and the player side of things.

Player Building:
I have only ever handled building goal-keepers and the best thing I can say on this end is that you should connect with other goalkeepers. GKing has specific skills that you should hyper-focus all of your TPE onto, sure everything has some effect on the game, but Reaction Time, Hand Speed, Style Control, and Rebound Control will do you the best for your career as a goalkeeper. Another thing I can say is to go for a team with no other goalkeepers. Whether they are the worst team or the best, it is always amazing to be able to see what each TP upgrade does for you and your player.

General VHL:
The VHL is such a welcoming community with so many people with so many interests. I can’t encourage any of you enough to really get involved with the community, whether that be as a Player, A Team Manager, and active discord member, or all of the above, there is seriously not a community I have ever been in that manages to be so welcoming and awesome. Thank you for reading, and this has been 2-3 years in the VHL, here is to 2-3 more!

[TenIQ 23]

Claiming week 2